Crane boom life guard



Aug. 13, 1963 SA. CCI FFEY 3,10 7 CRANE BOOM LIFE GUARD I Fi led Sept. 5, 1962 Fig.

Fig. 4

INVENTOR Stuart A. Coffey Patented Aug. 13, 1963 This invention relates to construction machinery and more particularly to a safety device in the form of a cage that acts as a life guard on the upper end of crane booms.

v The owners and operators of cranes having long booms have for years been" looking for some form of a device that acts as a life guard against the danger of the upper end of the crane boom from accidentally striking high a voltage electric lines, and thereby seriously burning or causing the death of all who may be in contact with the crane at the time of the accident.

Although a number of life guard devices have admittedly found their way onto the market, none have proven to be successful, either because they were too light in weight or else they did not effectively prevent the high voltage electric lines from coming into contact with the crane boomor its cables.

It is, therefore, an object of this invention to provide an eifective crane boom life guard that will automatically keep all high voltage electric lines from ever touching the crane boom or its cables.

Another object of this invention is to provide a crane boom life guard that is bothrugged and light in weight in comparison to its' size.

Another object of this invention is to provide a crane boom life guard that can quickly and easily be mounted on the upper end of a crane boom with a minimum of effort.

Another object of this invention is to provide a crane boom lifeguard that has rear gantry cable sheaves of nonconducting Micarta for secondary protection against electric shock in the event of insulator damage.

Another object of this invention is to provide a crane boom life guard having line hooks that will'prevent electric linesfrom skating onto unprotected portions of the crane. I

Still another object of this invention is to provide a crane boom life guard that can be mass produced to fit the upper end of any crane boom.

Other and further objects and advantages of this crane boom life guard will be hereinafter described, and the novel features thereof defined in the appended claim.

Referring to the drawing: FIGURE 1 is a side view of this invention ready for installation on the upper end of acrane boom.

FIGURE 2 is'a sectional view of the invention taken substantially along line 2--2 of FIGURE -1 as viewed in the direction indicated by the arrows. 7

FIGURE 3 is a front view of this invention taken substantially as indicated by the arrow and numeral Sin FIGURE 1. 1

FIGURE '4 is an enlarged view of that detail of this invention indicated by the arrow and numeral 4 in FIG- f URE 1.

FIGURE 5' is a sectional view of this invention taken substantially along line '55 of FIGURE '1 as viewed in the direction indicated by the arrows.

FIGURE 6 is an enlarged side view of that detail of this invention that is indicated by the arrow and numeral 6 in FIGURE 41.

Similar reference characters refer to similar parts vthroughout the several views of the drawing.

1 Having reference now to the drawing in detail, there is generally indicated by the character 10 a crane boomlife guard constructed from extra heavy steeltubing welded together. The crane boom life guard consists of a pair of parallel top tubes 11 having one end, the rear end, which is the left end on the appended drawing, secured to an inverted U-shaped member 12 that has each lower end terminate in an upturned hook 13 as best shown in FIGURE 2 of the appended drawing where it is to be noted that the aforesaid inverted U-shaped member 12 has curved rather than straight sides. Each lower end of the aforesaid inverted U-shaped member 12 is connected to a horizontal and parallel steel tube 1-4 that has its front end terminating and. connecting with the pair of curved end members 15 each of which is a continuation of the already described top tube 11 of this novel invention. The aforesaid crane boom 10 is provided with intermediate inverted U-shaped members 16, 17, and a later to be described member 18 as clearly shown in FIGURE 1 of the appended drawing where it is seen that member 16 contains a lateral cross tube 19 from which is suitably hung a pair of porcelain insulators 20 by means of insulating top supports 21. A rear gantry cable sheave 22 of nonconducting Micarta is suitably'secured to the bottom of each porcelain ins-ulator'Zti' as best shown in FIGURES 2 and 4 of the appended drawing. A second pair of porcelain insulators 23 are horizontally mounted in parallel spaced relation to each other in the front end of this unique crane boom life guard 10 as one can readily see on looking at FIGURES 1 and 6 of the drawing. A hard rubber shock absorbing mount 24 is located at each end of each one of the porcelain insulators 23 in order to provide still further insulation and safety to anyone who may be in touch with the crane on which this invention is secured at the time of an accidental touching of the cranes boom to a high powered electric line. Returning to the curved end members 15, it will be seen that the lower end of each one of thesemernbers terminates in an upturned hook 25 that serves the same purpose as the already mentioned upturned hooks 13. A brace tube .26 connects each lower side portion of the member 18 which is elliptical when viewed from either the front or back and which is best illustrated in FIGURE 3 of i .this crane boom life guard is attached to the upper end of a crane boom may vary with the detailed construction of each boom, therefore, no explanation of this process of attachment is given in this specification since it will be basically understood by anyone having experience with crane boom assemblyor having any other form of mechanical experience.

From the foregoing it will now be seen that there is herein provided a crane boom life guard which accornrplishes all of the objects of this invention, and others,

including many advantages of great practical utility and commercial importance.

As many embodiments may be made of this inventive concept, and as many modifications. maybe made in the embodiment herinbefore shown and described, it will aisasrs struction and operation of my invention of a crane boom life guard in the form Which I personally consider the best embodiment thereof, and What I now claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

A crane boom guard of the character described, comprising a plurality of longitudinally disposed heavy steel tubes in parallel spaced relation to each other and a plurality of inverted U-shaped members of. heavy-steel tubes at right angle to the first mentioned heavy steel tubes, the lowermost ends of that inverted U-shaped member that forms the left end member of the said crane boom guard having their ends terminate in an upturned hook and a third upturned hoo'k centrally located laterally on the uppermost portion of the said left end member, the said third upturned hook facing frontward and the front end of the upper two of the said longitudinally disposed steel tubes being curved downward and backward and having their ends terminate in a frontwardly facing hook, the lower portion of each one of the last mentioned steel tubes being braced by a diagonally disposed heavy steel brace tube that has its rear end secured to the lowermost portion of the front intermediate member that is elliptical when viewed from the front and a second pair of diagonal brace members of heavy steel tubing, each one of which extends from the intersection of the last mentioned hea'vy steel brace tubes with the lower portion. of downwardly and back Wardly curved portions of the two said longitudinally and a Micarta sheave rotatably mounted to the lower- 'most end of each of the said porcelain insulators and a pair of porcelain insulators horizontally mounted in parallel spaced relation to each other, and in the front end of the said crane boom guard each one of the last mentioned porcelain insulators having a rubber shock absorbing mount at each end thereof the said porcelain;

insulators providing means of mounting the said crane boom guard on the uppermost end of a crane boom.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,989,194 Thomas June 20,1961 

